Open enrollment for insurance has just started at my employer. We were warned that costs would be increasing, just... not by how much. We have two option. One is keeping our current plan (traditional copays and all that). Going with that for my wife and I would triple my insurance premium. Literally, it would be more than my rent. Our other option is, well, terrible. Insurance will pay nothing until we reach $6k in out of pocket expenses for the year, after which it pays 90%. This plan will cost a little less than double what I'm currently paying. Hurray...

My wife is not offered insurance by her employer. So let's look at the exchanges, yeah? The exchanges which run, uh, terribly. I'm assuming that silver plan just pays 70% off the top, on everything in-network? But what about out of network? What is or is not in network? What is the annual deductible (is there one)? And so on. Maybe these answers are somewhere, but fuck if I can get this website to work. I mean, it took some effort to figure out that while check boxes do not react in anyway when I click them, they still register the change in state internally, so you can select options that way.

Anyway, apparently we're in a really "fun" spot. That cheap plan I'm offered means that I don't qualify as "health insurance offered by employer costs more than 9.5% of your income," so I'm out on any subsidies. My wife *would* be eligible for subsidies, however our household income is a little over the cap. Like, a couple thousand dollars a year, so it's full price. Still looks like it will be cheaper to insure her over the exchanges, but until I can actually access the plan details beyond monthly premium, that's tough to compare. Here are also some fun questions like, "what qualifies as a tobacco use?" My wife quit smoking cigarettes last year by switching to an e-cig. No smoke, just nicotine - just like you'd get with the patch or gum. Well, does she count as a "tobacco user?" Hell if I can find out! Googling reveals people speculating and debating, but nothing firm. So I used their live chat feature. Half an hour later, and they've escalated to an "Advanced Resolution Center specialist," who will apparently research the question and call me back within two days. Because this method of smoking cessation, which is booming in popularity, isn't in the reference materials available to their front line, and isn't addressed in their FAQs.

And for all this effort... it will only matter for a couple months. Why? Because the new contracts we've bid on, which we should find out about in January or February (and should start by May), are all bid without my labor class. If we win any of them, I'll still be doing thesame job, but as a different class (SCA vs non-SCA), which will change my benefits to a different package. If we don't win, I'm finding a different job anyway, and so all the math changes again. So regardless, in 2-5 months, everything changes!

And so on. This doesn't even address all the problems with communication within my employer about what's happening (we've got like 7k US employees, and like 100k worldwide - how is it I'M the one finding errors in their documentation!?! At least I got thanked for pointing it out...)

I liked it before. It was simple, affordable, and stress-free. 2014 looks to be none of those, because I'm in that awkward middle ground of doing "too well" for assistance but not well enough to not struggle with the costs.

EDIT: New bonus! We're having two different meetings this week on benefits (one non-SCA, one SCA), which makes sense because it's two different benefits packages. However, the non-SCA meeting will be in the middle of the day (1-2pm) on Wednesday. The SCA meeting is scheduled for Thursday, after everyone has gotten out of work for the day! That's right, if we want to actually go to the meeting detailing our different insurance options and the changes which have been made,, we have to stay late, off-the-clock, some people going to a different site (of course they aren't doing a teleconference or doing a meeting at each site)._________________“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation”
yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.

Truck is in the shop. Got a rental to get back and forth to work. It's a 2012 Dodge "Steal Me I'm Shiny." Automatic everything. Electronic everything. It's a car with blind spots bigger than a semi. Hate it with a fiery passion.

I think I'm an automotive luddite._________________The older I get, the more certain I become of one thing. True and abiding cynicism is simply a form of cowardice.

Btw, as an update about my brother's situation. His MRI showed that he has a scar on his brain, and there was nothing else on it. So they are thinking the scar tissue is the cause of the seizure. The scar could have been caused by any event in his life. It wouldn't necessarily even have to have been a very serious injury. So, I think he came out of it really good all in all._________________Eureka00: "Reminding you of your addictions" since 1982.

Eure - that sounds like good news! although it's scary to discover that some minor thing can cause you a problem like that. i hope that now the scar has made itself known, it will not feel the need to keep pushing the issue._________________aka: neverscared!
a flux of vibrant matter

CTrees, what state are you in? I've heard some states get crappier deals than others.

In this case, my state only matters for the policies available on the exchange. I work for a large multinational corporation, based in a country with universal healthcare. We have around 10k US employees around the country, our US headquarters are in the DC area, and every SCA employee in the country is getting the same deal, with the same shitty rates, short notices, etc. Though the little bit with the after working hours briefing is courtesy of our horrible HR rep._________________“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation”
yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.

My dad's lab results have come back positive. Metastatic Melanoma. They didn't show anything on the full body scan a few weeks back, but he is going back in again. They've already removed two growths from his leg.

In comparison this one is smaller, but had more of an immediate effect, inadvertently called my wife fat. Yuuuup. She's not. She's anything but. In fact I've spent the greater part of our relationship trying to convince her she isn't. Last night, for whatever reason, my brain was all "you know what would be funny? When you mean to say 'rubbing your back' how about we say 'rubbing your fat'. It will be awesome." So yeah. There was that. That felt terrible.

i'm really sorry about your dad, DeD. on the bright side, if your brain keeps letting you say things like that, your wife will probably kill you before you have to deal much with your dad's illness._________________aka: neverscared!
a flux of vibrant matter

How does a brain get scarred? Or rather, what may have happened to him that caused it?

Well, the obvious head injuries are what would cause them. Hard to say what it was since the average person knocks their noggin a number of times in their life, and they said it didn't necessarily have to be a serious one. I guess the Doctor even told him you can get them when turning over in bed at night. I'm not sure how much I believe that...lol._________________Eureka00: "Reminding you of your addictions" since 1982.

Volunteered to participate in a work program that's geared towards helping out in the community.

They've scheduled me to work Halloween day, so I'll miss my favorite holiday and I now have no excuse at all to dress up this year. In fact, I can't dress up, I'm literally not allowed. We're required to wear the blinding work shirts that have been provided.

I feel like I'm being punished.

It's stupid, it's just a holiday. Still makes me feel like shit though._________________Samsally the GrayAce